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Gordon Hunt (director)
| birth_place = Sherman Oaks, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Director, actor, producer, writer | yearsactive = 1959–2016 | spouse = Jane Elizabeth Novis (divorced) | children = Helen Hunt | relatives = Peter H. Hunt (paternal half-brother) }} Gordon Edwynn Hunt (April 26, 1929 – December 17, 2016) was an American director, actor, producer and writer. He directed such animated productions as The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Super Friends, The Richie Rich Show, The Smurfs, Pound Puppies, Tom & Jerry Kids, The Pirates of Dark Water, Droopy, Master Detective and The New Adventures of Captain Planet. Life and career Hunt was born in Sherman Oaks, California, the son of Helen F. (née Roberts; originally Rothenberg) and George Smith Hunt II, an industrial designer. He also had a younger half-brother, director and lighting designer Peter H. Hunt. His mother was from a German Jewish family; and his father, a Mayflower descendant, of English origin, was from Minnesota.Helen Hunt ancestry He was the father of actress Helen Hunt from his marriage to photographer Jane Elizabeth Novis; they later divorced. Since 1995, he had been married to voice actress B.J. Ward. He had been working as a freelance director in New York before being hired to work at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where he served as their casting director for ten years. He was then hired by Joseph Barbera to direct animated series at Hanna-Barbera. His first voice directing job was Partridge Family 2200 A.D. in 1974. With a prestigious twenty-year career at Hanna-Barbera, Hunt was now prominent in the voiceover forum, where he was a freelance director for multiple animated productions and video games. As a voice actor, he voiced the character of Wally in the animated adaptation of the comic strip Dilbert. He has often worked alongside colleague voice directors Ginny McSwain, Andrea Romano, Kris Zimmerman and Jamie Thomason. McSwain, Romano and Zimmerman had studied under him as animation casting directors and learned the profession from Hunt before becoming voice directors themselves. Andrea Romano considers him to be her mentor, who makes actors feel so comfortable and relaxed that she said, "Nobody does not like Gordon". He directed many television series, of which most were situation comedies. In 1996, he received the Directors Guild of America Award; "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" for Mad About You's episode The Alan Brady Show. Hunt also voice directed multiple video games. Among the games he worked on are Pandemonium, the God of War series, Lair, Final Fantasy XIV, Blur, the Legacy of Kain series, and the Uncharted series. He also served as motion capture director on Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Hunt died on December 17, 2016 from Parkinson's disease at the age of 87.http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gordon-hunt-dead-director-father-helen-hunt-was-87-957833 Filmography Recording director Animated specials and movies Animated shorts Video games Actor: animated and film roles References External links *Official Website * Category:1929 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Casting directors Category:Voice directors Category:Actors from Los Angeles Category:Actors from Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles Category:American television directors Category:American theatre directors Category:American voice actors Category:20th-century American actors Category:21st-century American actors Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:People from Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease Category:Directors Guild of America Award winners Category:Hanna-Barbera people